Where Life Begins and Love Never Ends
by DreamyHope
Summary: collection of my one-shots (they are all related but not in chronological order)...they are continuation of It's not the right time and To Let Go
1. An Ordinary Afternoon (July 2021)

_The title says it all, believe me. ;_

 _All mistakes are mine as I don't have beta._

* * *

It was hot sunny afternoon in the middle of July and there were twelve people – seven adults and five kids – playing football in the garden in Queen's Mansion. It was their way how to celebrate Felicity's birthday. There would be a party in the evening for the adults but as they wanted to involve the kids they spent the afternoon all together. It was their tradition.

„Soph, kick the ball to daddy," called Oliver softly. He used this tone when he was talking to his kids.

He stood barely one meter from his two years old daughter and waited patiently for her kick. He focused all his attention to her and Felicity took the advantage of that moment to take a picture of her husband and their daughter.

Sophie didn't listen to her dad and kicked the ball to her brother standing nearby. She might be just two but she was aware her big brother would be happy by her action, her daddy would chase her and her mummy would laugh. The youngest person of those thirteen people was very clever.

"Well done, princess," said Roy when she ran past him on her short legs. She giggled and just then Oliver caught her, took her to his arms and fell to the grass with her. He started to tickle her which made her laugh, squeal and call for her mummy.

"Dad's being silly," said Robbie to his mum, shaking his head while watching his dad and younger sister.

Felicity looked at her son with a smile. "Why don't you kick the ball and score?" she suggested with a mischief written on her face.

The boy frowned. "But it would be cheating! Nobody's paying attention."

Felicity sighed. She didn't know what to do. Her six years old took everything seriously and Felicity personally didn't think it was good for him; she thought he should have more fun. "Fine, I'm going to do it by myself," she shrugged and gave the little boy a wink. She quickly moved to the ball placed unnoticed behind her son, kicked it and scored the goal.

"It's not fair! Mum's cheating!" cried Robbie loudly as Felicity had her victory dance.

"Oh, come on, darling! It was fun. Your dad would do the same thing. You have to stop being so serious," said Felicity and grabbed his hand.

"But you keep saying cheating is wrong!" he pointed out.

Felicity could feel eleven pairs of eyes on herself. She squirmed. "Yeah, but," she took a breath, "this is just a game. You're not on the actual pitch. This isn't the real match. Besides it wasn't cheating." Felicity was interrupted by Oliver's cough. She rolled her eyes. "They shouldn't watch daddy and Sophie, they should pay attention. It was their fault."

Robbie looked around as if he was looking for the reassuring that his mum was right. Everybody just shrugged slightly and then Diggle said: "Mummy's right. We should watch the game and not those two sillies."

Felicity mouthed _thanks, Digg_ and then she smiled triumphantly at her husband who just shook his head in disbelief.

The six year old boy stood there with a thoughtful look on his face. After a few moments he looked at his mum and then at his dad. He nodded. "Ok. If Uncle John says so then it must be true," said Robbie.

Oliver sat on the grass, his daughter on his lap and shocked look on his face. His look didn't escape Felicity's attention. She knew exactly what Oliver had been thinking. He thought that he was suddenly replaced by Digg. He was worried that his son didn't think that he was the coolest guy in the world anymore.

Felicity walked over to Oliver. She sat next to him and kissed him lightly. "No one can replace you," she assured him.

He gave her a sad smile. "Someone will one day."

"Oliver, Robbie loves you! Sure, he loves his uncles too but you are his dad. Man who'd held him just a couple minutes after he was born. You're the one who stayed up all night with him when he was sick so I could have some sleep. And," she winked, "you're the Green Arrow. He adores that guy!"

"I'm not telling him!" snapped Oliver with a frown.

Felicity touched his forearm. "I know. But if you want to...one day...I'll support you. Although then Robbie would want to be the Green Arrow junior and I don't think I'll ever be ready for that." She frowned at that thought. No, Felicity really didn't want her son risking his life but if it was his decision she would be supportive. But she would make sure he knew what he had been signing himself for.

"I won't allow that," he assured her.

Felicity smiled. "I don't think you will have much saying in it." She shrugged. "He's your son after all."

Oliver looked at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means. He's just like you. He wants to help people and he would do anything to reach that goal. He's just too young to do it your way." She gave him sad half smile.

Sophie, who slipped off of Oliver's lap minutes ago, chose that moment to call for Felicity. "Mummy! Daisies! Make a wreath! Please!"

"Coming, sweetie," she called back then turn to her husband. "Don't worry about Robbie now, okay?" She kissed him before getting up and walking down the garden to Sophie.


	2. The Guilt (August 2021)

_Robbie Queen had been kidnapped. Green Arrow saved him. This short story is about who's about to blame._

 _It's little something I don't even want to call it a chapter. It was supposed to be different and longer (much longer) but I couldn't write it so here it is..._

* * *

Felicity stood in the door of Robbie's room and watched the little boy sleeping soundly. He was exhausted and she couldn't blame him. She would want to sleep for at least a week if she was kidnapped and held for almost three weeks like her son and Sara were.

She felt Oliver's arms hugging her from behind and relaxed a little.

"You can't stay here the whole night. You need your sleep too," he whispered into her ear and kissed her temple.

"I don't think I can sleep," she whispered back.

"Felicity, he's safe now. We have all the alarms set. It won't happen again. The Green Arrow took care of it."

She smiled. "The Green Arrow is my hero. He brought my son back and I love him for that."

Oliver turned her in his arms to face him. "Well, how about you show him how much you love him? Back in the bedroom?" He wriggled his eyebrows at her.

Felicity bit her bottom lip and turned her head to look at her five year old. "I think I owe him that," she said, once she was sure that Robbie's still fast asleep.

* * *

They lay in the bed when Felicity said: "Robbie's really grateful to the Green Arrow, you know? He asked if he could meet him again to thank him." She traced circles with her nail around one of his scars.

Oliver stiffened. "He thanked him already."

Felicity looked at her husband. "He doesn't think it was enough."

"It was," he assured her and kissed her forehead.

"Oliver, why don't you do it for him? What could you possibly loose?"

Oliver took a deep breath. "Felicity, I don't want to be the Green Arrow anymore."

Felicity sat up and turned to look at him. "What? Why? Where's this all coming from?"

"It's not safe. I just put our son in danger." He shook his head. "It's just matter of time this happens again with him, Sophie, our third child or you...or anybody else who's somehow connected to me."

Felicity chewed on her bottom lip. "It wasn't you who put him in danger."

He frowned.

She shrugged. "I was the one who set up the systems. And it was _me_ who thought it wasn't necessary to switch it on that night. You didn't agree but I didn't listen." Tears welled up in her eyes. She should tell him before but instead she let him to believe it was his fault because she was too selfish. She didn't want to be the bad guy in this but the truth was she was. She gave Noah the chance to kidnap her son and Sara.

Oliver leaned to her and cupped her face in his hands. "Felicity, honey, it's _not_ your fault! We both know that he would be able to switch the system off if he had to."

"But I made it easier for him!" She started to cry. She wished she could blame the pregnancy hormones for her tears but it was all the guilt she was carrying around for weeks. "I knew he is the threat when I refused to meet him with kids. I just didn't want to take the chance of Noah hurting them but that's exactly what I did!"

"Felicity! Listen to me! You are _not_ responsible for this! It's all Noah's fault and he's in jail now and he is going to stay there for a very long time. He's not going to hurt anybody any time soon."

Felicity sighed. "There will be others and he will get out eventually." She was scared of the future. She even questioned their decision to have third child. Not that they could do much about it now when she was pregnant again.

"And I will be here to take care about every single person who will try and hurt my family!" he assured her.

She smiled a little. "I know."


	3. Daddy Branch (June 2021)

_Oliver's as miserable as Branch and it didn't escape the kids' attention._

 _This is just short (and hopefully sweet) something. I had this idea as I watched Trolls with the little girl I'm looking after so I put it on paper and this is what happened._

 _This story takes place before first chapter._

 _No beta, all mistakes are mine._

 _Enjoy. =o)_

* * *

"Daddy's just like Branch," exclaimed Robbie while Sophie giggled and nodded in agreement.

Felicity bit her lip to keep from smiling. It was early Friday afternoon and the kids – one on each side of her - were watching Trolls – Sophie's favourite movie at the time and even though Robbie would never admit it he loved the movie too. "Shh, daddy might hear you and he wouldn't be very happy about it."

She didn't want to admit it but Oliver was in fact just like Branch right now. She couldn't blame him though.

It's been a week since his knee gave up and he had to have it fixed. They didn't keep him at hospital for long as everything looked good but he couldn't get around properly which meant that he wasn't in any shape to go back to work and it applied to his day job as well as his night job. Oliver has been so miserable that Felicity didn't even tell him that they were expecting their third child which she found out about the day he was admitted to the hospital.

"Mummy?" asked Sophie from her spot.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Is daddy going to fall in love and be our daddy again?" she asked innocently.

Felicity's heart melted at the question. She smiled at her adorable daughter, pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. "He is in love already."

Sophie's eyes grew wide. "But how is he going to be our daddy again then?"

"I might just have something for him to put him out of his mood," she assured her with another kiss. "But we will wait until after dinner to tell him." She decided it was just about time for Oliver to stop being miserable and for her to finally tell him.

* * *

Felicity put away the plates from dinner and took the dessert out of a fridge. She also took out the package wrapped in green wrapping paper with silver bow on top of it William brought with him as he arrived for the weekend.

"Will, could you take this to the table, please?" she asked Oliver's oldest son. She handed him a plate with homemade strawberry cheesecake. Robbie took care of dessert plates and Sophie – because she didn't like feeling left out – carried forks. Felicity herself took care of the soft package.

She approached Oliver with a mysterious smile and handed it to him with a soft kiss on his lips. "I love you," she assured him quietly so only he could hear her.

Oliver's eyebrows furrowed. "What is it?" he asked as she started to serve the dessert.

"Open it," she invited him.

Still frowning, he started to unwrap the present. His frown deepened as he held out a white t-shirt with green writing that said: _Daddy of four_. He stared at the t-shirt as if he couldn't quite make out what it meant.

Felicity chewed on her bottom lip as she waited for him to react. And then it happened, he got up and pulled her to himself just to kiss her passionately. It wasn't something they did in front of the kids but right now neither of the adults cared.

"You're pregnant?"

She nodded with a huge grin on her face. "Yes! We are going to have another baby!" She looked him in the eyes. "Are you happy?" she asked.

"Of course I am!" he assured her.

There was a sudden clap from their two year old. "Yay! Daddy's not Branch anymore!" she exclaimed happily.

Oliver raised his eyebrows, looked at their kids and then at Felicity. "Branch?"

Felicity shrugged. "I will explain it to you later," she assured him with a wink.


End file.
